


500 Words You Should Know: 461. Sycophant

by gaslightgallows (hearts_blood)



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 01:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4857965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearts_blood/pseuds/gaslightgallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phryne is in need of a rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	500 Words You Should Know: 461. Sycophant

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fire_Sign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Sign/gifts).



> This was the hardest prompt I've had yet for this fandom!

Sycophant

noun  
1\. a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite

 

Jack smiled politely at the Chief Commissioner's conversation, sipped his champagne, and looked around for Phryne. The annual Firemen and Policemen's Ball was going well, aided in part by a sizable anonymous donation to the event's fund, as well as another (also anonymous) to the Police Widows and Orphans Association. 

No one was really in any doubt of the source, though.

He spied his partner-in-crime-fighting trapped in a corner by a particularly sycophantic member of Melbourne society. Jack could never remember the man's name, but he had a face like overcooked spinach and a manner just as likely to set one's teeth on edge. And from the expression on Phryne's face, she was about three seconds away from committing a very public act of homicide.

Jack excused himself from the Commissioner's table, and went to his lady's rescue. 

"Oh thank God!" Phryne exploded when they were out of earshot of the parasite. "You have no idea how close that disgusting man came to death just now."

"I have some idea," said Jack mildly, leading her onto the dance floor. 

"I have no time for sycophants," she declared in disgust, unconsciously echoing Jack's thoughts as she settled into his arms for a waltz. "Not even good-looking ones, which he is decidedly not. Self-serving flattery is not welcome flattery."

"Hmm. That's bad news for me, then. I usually have very specific ends in mind, when I flatter you."

Phryne's smile was like an ember. "Ah, but Jack. Those are my ends, too."


End file.
